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Teenagers are better behaved and less hedonistic (2018)

economist.com

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Re: Teenagers are better behaved and less hedonistic (2018)

#281

Post by kube-system »

nkozyra wrote: post #254
smt88 wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went to HS at the #1 school in my state in the early 2000s, and my experience was like GP's, not yours. Nothing s/he said was surprising to me.

I have never really heard high schools referred to by a ranking event though I went to high school at the same timeframe you did. Is this common? What's the measurement? State testing methods? Seems nebulous.

Yes, any ranking on subjective criteria is nebulous. But it's definitely not uncommon to rank school performance. State testing is the easiest data to use because it's typically public information.

Re: Teenagers are better behaved and less hedonistic (2018)

#282

Post by Izkata »

kick wrote: post #116
switch007 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The LGBT kids fuck to an extent, as do some of the lower achievers, but even then it's nowhere near as much as I expected. I'm trying to be charitable and not over-interpret the juxtaposition of "LGBT" and "lower achievers". I'm surprised you have so much time to study who is having sex. Quite remarkable.

It might actually reflect your own prejudice a bit that you're interpreting it that way. Speaking as a rainbow myself over here, it's...not unlikely? Throw a bunch of teenagers or young adults in support groups together with the subtext that they all have the same sexual orientation with no chance of being shamed for making advances for what's effectively the first time in most of their lives, and it doesn't take a f…

> Throw a bunch of teenagers or young adults in support groups together with the subtext that they all have the same sexual orientation with no chance of being shamed for making advances for what's effectively the first time in most of their lives, and it doesn't take a fortune teller to figure out what's probably going to be happening in greater rates for those kids.

Honestly, I think the bigger reason is that there's no chance of pregnancy in gay relationships, so one big barrier is just gone.

Re: Teenagers are better behaved and less hedonistic (2018)

#283

Post by gibolt »

alexhutcheson wrote: post #242
vegetablepotpie wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish adults understood the realities of being young in 2020. Even when I graduated HS in 2007 I could tell my experience and the academic expectations I needed to live up to were much higher than it was for my mom. After I graduated I saw younger friends take more AP classes than I did and do more leadership activities than I did. Expectations are always ramping up. It is no party. Our laws and bureaucracies haven’…

FWIW, this isn't so much a story of "being young in 2020" as it is "being young in 2020 in the hyper-competitive culture of major coastal metro areas of the US". This phenomenon is actually pretty unique to a handful of metro areas, which happen to be over-represented on HN. In most of the country, bright high school students are focused on getting into their state's flagship public university, and exceptionally succ…

Absolutely disagree. This was the case for me at average high school and college in the midwest. I'd say ~50% of the populations had those pressures.

Going to a upper tier college for grad school showed me that only the percentage changes, going from maybe ~50% to ~75%

Re: Teenagers are better behaved and less hedonistic (2018)

#285

Post by SuoDuanDao »

_5yps wrote: post #40
stareatgoats wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've never heard anyone even talk about a party And the stuff about sexual intercourse - really? Such a far cry from my own high school years (in the seventies), I can hardly believe it. Sounds more like the stuff I would try to convince my mother, with mixed success. Otherwise, kudos for such mastery of language at 16.

It's not true that nobody's fucking. The LGBT kids fuck to an extent, as do some of the lower achievers, but even then it's nowhere near as much as I expected. I'm surprised to hear you compliment my writing style. I always thought it was subpar - too many clauses, a slew of unnecessary qualifiers and weasel words, no shortage of kludges for things I can't express very well. I tend to be better at it after I've been…

The fact that you know more brevity would improve your style puts you ahead of some English majors I went to University with.

I'm sure you're sick of hearing it, but your generation does give me optimism for the future. I believe you'll have to do more with less than your predecessors, and for my own failures in mitigating that you have my apologies. But you do make it plausible that we might just muddle through the upcoming troubles.

Re: Teenagers are better behaved and less hedonistic (2018)

#286

Post by lonelappde »

_5yps wrote: post #27

16-year-old here. My experience is probably markedly different from most teenagers in the US (I'm an immigrant who goes to a competitive school full of other immigrants) but I find that, for the most part, this article hits the nail on the head. High School is nothing like the usual media portrayal - I've never heard anyone even talk about a party, nobody's doing anything stronger than weed, nobody's fucking or even…

Please tidy up your foul language. It makes your otherwise good writing hard to read.

Re: Teenagers are better behaved and less hedonistic (2018)

#287

Post by knzhou »

_5yps wrote: post #27

16-year-old here. My experience is probably markedly different from most teenagers in the US (I'm an immigrant who goes to a competitive school full of other immigrants) but I find that, for the most part, this article hits the nail on the head. High School is nothing like the usual media portrayal - I've never heard anyone even talk about a party, nobody's doing anything stronger than weed, nobody's fucking or even…

I went to a school with similar dynamics, and if it's any comfort, I can assure you that the bullshit doesn't pay off. Those of us that pursued our interests deeply had our pick of college, those obsessed with simple metrics like AP count and SAT score got to what you call second-tiers if they were lucky, and those chasing leadership positions in do-nothing clubs got sweeping rejections. The system is not fair by any means, but it's not stupid, it can recognize people trying to game it.

Re: Teenagers are better behaved and less hedonistic (2018)

#288

Post by [deleted] »

lonelappde wrote: post #286
_5yps wrote: post #27

16-year-old here. My experience is probably markedly different from most teenagers in the US (I'm an immigrant who goes to a competitive school full of other immigrants) but I find that, for the most part, this article hits the nail on the head. High School is nothing like the usual media portrayal - I've never heard anyone even talk about a party, nobody's doing anything stronger than weed, nobody's fucking or even…

Please tidy up your foul language. It makes your otherwise good writing hard to read.

[deleted]

Re: Teenagers are better behaved and less hedonistic (2018)

#289

Post by discostrings »

nkozyra wrote: post #254
smt88 wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went to HS at the #1 school in my state in the early 2000s, and my experience was like GP's, not yours. Nothing s/he said was surprising to me.

I have never really heard high schools referred to by a ranking event though I went to high school at the same timeframe you did. Is this common? What's the measurement? State testing methods? Seems nebulous.

Now what's the matter buddy, ain't you heard of my school? It's #1 in the state!

People have been true to their schools since at least 1963.

Re: Teenagers are better behaved and less hedonistic (2018)

#290

Post by Izkata »

pier25 wrote: post #199
softwaredoug wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a parent, I've noticed the biggest problem that prevents "free range" kids is other adults without kids. Those of us WITH kids relish getting the kids outside and out of our hair. But those without kids frequently are calling the parents to complain our children are roaming the neighborhood, perhaps on their property. Or they fear these kids will create problems. Usually, however, they're just kids being kids. Goi…

I don't know. In Spain kids are indeed less adventurous than my generation, specially in the cities, but I've never heard about someone complaining about kids roaming. I think the number of alone activities kids can do these days to keep themselves entertained (videogames, internet, netflix, etc) is a much more influential factor.

> but I've never heard about someone complaining about kids roaming.

It's a thing:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2018/09/05/mom...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/14/parent...

https://www.cnn.com/2015/04/13/living/feat-maryland-free-ran...

https://nypost.com/2015/04/13/cops-coerced-our-kids-into-squ...

Apparently this is somehow seen as neglect, a type of child abuse, by others.

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